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Only begotten (meaning)

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  • 11-05-2011 3:33pm
    #1
    dvae
    Registered Users Posts: 335 ✭✭


    Can anybody tell me what the words only begotten son basically mean?
    After goggling "only begotten son meaning" many times now, it seems everybody has a different opinion on its meaning.
    One of the most common translations Ive read is, first sired or first born off.
    Given that angels are described as sons of God and presumably Gods first creations. How could Jesus be called only begotten if used in the context of first sired or first born?
    Also if one was to believe that angels where not sons of God but, a different creation. Would Adam not be Gods only begotten son?

    John 1:18 - No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.
    John 3:16 - For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
    John 3:18 - He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
    Hebrews 11:17 - By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, 1 John 4:9 - In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.


    While trying to research the meaning of "begotten son" i came across a lot of sites which try to disprove the doctorn of the trinity.
    Please note whilst some of these sites got my attention and got me thinking, my genuine intention is not to try and disprove the trinity but to understand the word only begotten in relation to Jesus.


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    #2
    PDN
    Closed Accounts Posts: 13,686 ✭✭✭✭PDN


    The word translated as 'begotten' is monogenes. mono - means 'only' but genes is more ambiguous and can refer to birth (eg 'genetics') or to kind (eg 'genus' in biology).

    So, in the original Greek mongenes could either mean 'one of a kind - unique' or it could mean 'only born - only begotten'.

    My own personal opinion is that translating it as 'the one and only' makes much more theological sense.


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    #3
    JimiTime
    Registered Users Posts: 7,418 ✭✭✭JimiTime


    PDN wrote: »

    My own personal opinion is that translating it as 'the one and only' makes much more theological sense.

    This guy challenges your opinion.


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    #4
    hivizman
    Registered Users Posts: 1,163 ✭✭✭hivizman


    JimiTime wrote: »
    This guy challenges your opinion.

    Nice one! :)

    More seriously, I'm with PDN on this. There are various issues that need to be unbundled. First, "begotten" is contrasted with "created" (compare the Nicene Creed "Begotten not made"). If Jesus (as God the Son) is just a creation, then he is "lesser than" God the Father, but this contradicts the notion that the three persons of the Trinity are equal in status. "Begotten" perhaps reflects the birth of Jesus (in his human nature). However, it provides an opening for objections to the Trinity, for example from Muslims, who ridicule the idea that God can have a son, and who read in the Qur'an that Jesus was created through the will of Allah. Indeed, Surat al-Ikhlas (112:3) specifically states that God "begets not, nor is he begotten".

    Also, the idea of Jesus being "begotten" brings into question the clear statements in the gospels (e.g. John 1:1 "In the beginning was the Word") that contradict claims that Jesus (as God the Son) came into existence in some temporal sense "after" God the Father. If Jesus is the "begotten" son of God, that seems to imply that God was temporally "before" Jesus.

    Translating monogenes as "one and only" or "unique" distinguishes Jesus from others in the Bible who were described as "son of God" as an honorific title. Incidentally, the New Revised Standard Version (Anglicized Edition) translated monogenes simply as "only".


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